Between 1975 and 1989, 896 patients were treated for endometrial carci
noma at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Thirty patients were ident
ified from the tumor registry as having uterine papillary serous carci
nomas. The survival for all patients and for groups of patients strati
fied on clinical and pathological parameters was examined in the Kapla
n-Meier survival curves. Curves for the different strata were compared
using the logrank test. The 5-year survival for the 30 patients was 3
0% +/- 9%. Patients with surgical stage I and II tumors had a 5-year s
urvival rate of 79% +/- 14% compared to 25% +/- 10% in patients with s
tage III and IV tumors (P = 0.02). Clinical stage, depth of myometrial
invasion, lymph-vascular space invasion, tumor grade, and DNA aneuplo
idy were not found to significantly impact on survival. However, a sur
vival advantage was seen in patients diagnosed with early surgical sta
ge tumors, reinforcing the need for thorough staging at the time of la
parotomy. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.